


Gifting Season

by UnderscoreMax



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Winter Veil, just a little though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:46:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29536323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderscoreMax/pseuds/UnderscoreMax
Summary: It would be Winter Veil soon. Would he stay in the keep? It felt like intruding, but where else could he go? Dalaran? He was still the guardian initiate. Could he even spare the time to celebrate?
Relationships: Khadgar/Anduin Lothar
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: Liontrust 2020 Secret Santa





	Gifting Season

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RougishGlee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RougishGlee/gifts).



> hi
> 
> im alive
> 
> kinda
> 
> uh, anyway, pretend this is going up during winter veil and not lunar festival

Snow fell quietly around Stormwind. The colourful rooftops slowly being covered in white.

Khadgar sat in the library, close enough to the window that he could see, but not enough so the cold could get to him. A heavy tome laid on the desk, filled with too many words that Khadgar couldn't focus on. His eyes kept drifting away to the window.

It would be Winter Veil soon. Would he stay in the keep? It felt like intruding, but where else could he go? Dalaran? He was still the guardian initiate. Could he even spare the time to celebrate? 

A heavy blanket dropped on his shoulders, startling him away from the window. Laughter came from behind him. 

Lothar.

Alright, that made sense. 

"You don't look very studious right now Khad." He leaned over Khadgar, placing his chin on the mage's shoulder. Khadgar could smell the smoke from a fire, Lothar must've just come inside.

"I was, you just," he paused, "you simply startled me."

Lothar hummed, Khadgar swears he could feel the vibrations through his whole being. "Are you saying I'm distracting?"

For a second, Khadgar leaned against him, eyes falling shut. With a steady exhale he looked back to the book, remembering why it was still laid out in front of him. Lothar followed his line of sight, trailing his fingers over the page.

"Yes, you are quite distracting." He patted Lothar's head, "Now, I need to finish this book."

Lothar sighed a little, looking from Khadgar back to the book. "Why don't you come eat? Whatever is in this book will still be here.."

Could he? There was no guardian, he wasn't ready for that. He didn't know enough yet. He couldn't-

"I'm fine, not really hungry." Maybe it was a lie, but he could ignore it.

"When did you last eat?" Khadgar's pause gave him away. Lothar tugged on Khadgar's sleeve, pulling him up from the chair. "Come on, Varian will be happy to see you." 

Oh, now that was a cheap trick. It worked, but still cheap.

.  
\---  
.

Khadgar was back in the library soon after dinner ended. His staff glowed nearby, hovering by his shoulder, lighting up the book. His cheek rested on the page, mouth open in a quiet snore.

Taria ran her hand through his hair. Placing a blanket over his shoulders with a sigh, and replacing the book with a pillow. 

He was going to work himself too hard, no matter what any of them did, but maybe they could provide a soft enough landing spot for when he needed to crash.

.

.

The lights had been up before winter veil really started, but on the first night, it was brighter than he had imagined. Every rooftop had lights. The windows are decorated with wreaths and holly. The doorways are adorned with little bundles of mistletoe. 

Dalaran had decorated, yes, but never had he seen an entire city so happy. Even after everything that had happened in the recent years, they seemed nearly unphased.

It was nice to see. 

It didn't feel right though. Khadgar couldn't stop the feeling that he was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be. But this time there was no important world-saving knowledge in the books, it was just runes and Ymirhem ruins. 

He felt that this was too… Peaceful? Happy? 

It wasn't something he should be intruding upon.

.

.

Dinner was yet another similar affair.

Khadgar's back popped as he sat up from the book, a strained sigh coming out while he stretched. 

He padded down the hallways in the dark, the keep's halls already familiar to him.

The light behind Lothar's door was already extinguished, but that wasn't surprising, the sun had set hours ago.

Khadgar opened the door as quietly as he could, quickly moving about the room to change into sleep clothes. He tossed his robes off to a corner, effectively deeming them tomorrow's problem.

Lothar stirred a little when Khadgar slipped under the covers, pulling the mage closer. His voice was low when he whispered a greeting, eyes half-closed and heavy with sleep.

Khadgar smiled, shifting around to get comfortable in Lothar's arms, pressing his face into Lothar's chest.

Sleep came quickly and easily.

.

.

Somehow, possibly through the will of the Light, Lothar had managed to coax Khadgar outside the next morning. He'd stuffed a hot drink in the mage's hands and shuffled the pair into the snowy streets of Stormwind. 

A smile wormed its way onto his face while he watched Khadgar's eyes light up. Snow crowned his hair, and the corners of his eyes crinkled with a smile as the pair watched kids have a snowball fight.

"Have you ever gotten in a snowball fight?" Lothar asked, tilting his head towards Khadgar.

"Oh, no, I think Antonidas would've made us write lines if he caught anyone goofing off." He laughed a little, "Dalaran didn't do all that much about any of the holidays honestly, I don't know how much of that I ever really missed."

Lothar made a face, "Well then," he clapped, "It's a good thing you're gonna be here with us for winter veil this year."

Khadgar paused, his mind going awkwardly stale before he tried to respond.

"Oh, I- yeah, I guess it is."

.

.

Another few snowy days passed, and Khadgar found himself tucked under Lothar's arm. The windows were steadily growing brighter as the sun rose and glinted off the snow. It was peaceful, for a moment.

A knock sounded on the door, and Varian's head peeked in before a response could be made. 

"C'mon, Mom said we have to wait for you so we can do presents!"

Lothar's eyes cracked open, squinting in the sunlight. 

"Tell your mom we'll be there in a bit"

Varian groaned, holding onto the doorframe as he leaned back. "But then we'll have to wait even more," he whined.

Khadgar laughed quietly, looking up to Lothar once Varian had left. "I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to leave him waiting."

Lothar rolled his eyes, but groaned and sat up anyway.

.

.

The two padded down the hallways, eventually reaching the solar. The room was decorated with evergreens and tinsel, shiny baubles and ornaments dangling from everything. It was all lit up from the sun, reflecting off the glass ornaments into colourful spots on the walls.

An evergreen was in the corner, brightly wrapped presents underneath.

Varian darted across the room to start passing around the boxes, grinning happily. He started with a few that were wrapped rather chaotically with a surplus of tape, with ‘From: Adariall & Varian’ scrawled on the tags. A few more were placed in each person's lap, along with stockings.

Khadgar found himself a little overwhelmed with the small pile of brightly wrapped presents. Silver and blue wrapped ones from Taria, brown paper from Lothar, and a dark purple stocking with chocolates inside.

Khadgar took a breath, leaning against Lothar, tucked under his arm. "Glad I stayed this year."


End file.
